Marketing In A Minute

Did you know that there are generally four kinds of advertisers?
Those four types of advertisers are Defensive advertisers, offensive advertisers, flankers and guerrilla advertisers. According to “Marketing Warfare” by Ries and Trout, the most widely-read book on marketing ever written, your business falls into one of these categories. Do you know which one? Your business’ position in the marketplace determines which of these strategies you should employ. For example, the clear market leader in a category needs to play defense against losing market share. The guerilla, on the other hand, knows he cannot compete unless he employs a strategy that the market leader cannot. If you’re unsure about the tactics your business should employ, you can count on Clarke Broadcasting to give you solutions without high-pressure tactics. We realize that we aren’t successful unless you are. For more great marketing insights, call us at 209-533-1450 and ask for our Sales Manager.

As an advertiser, do you know who your target audience is?
You’re probably thinking “that’s easy. My target is everyone.” It would be great if every person in the Mother Lode was a candidate for the goods and services you provide, but unfortunately, that’s rarely ever the case. A lot of fast-food restaurants can target everyone because A) everyone eats and B) they usually are a well-known brand that has become well-known through years of advertising with big advertising budgets.

If you don’t have a huge budget, you need to focus on the type of person who is likely to visit your business. Then, reach out to that person in every way possible and keep doing so until you begin to see people with the same characteristics visiting your business more frequently. Only at that point should you start to think about marketing to a broader demographic.

Word of mouth advertising is great advertising… isn’t it…?
What if the “word” in word of mouth is negative? Word of mouth, when it’s positive, is powerful. A personal experience with a business that is so good that a customer gives a referral is a tremendous building block. But what if they find fault with something? Can your business overcome a bad review? It could take weeks or months, or years. And even if a positive experience is highlighted, it may be something you don’t place a lot of emphasis on.

Word of mouth advertising is certainly beneficial in that it’s cheap. But as we have heard, you get what you pay for. Word of mouth is painfully slow, and most businesses we know don’t have the luxury of time. In addition, word of mouth doesn’t allow you to control the message. Radio advertising does what word of mouth doesn’t. It reaches your customers quickly with the right message and it does so in a cost-effective manner.

What’s the very best way to make your brain remember something?
Your memory is fueled by repetition. The more your brain is stimulated by an idea, the more it can
recall. In radio advertising this is accomplished through frequency. Even the very best commercial with the most creativity, urgency and best deal can get lost. Our brains process tens of thousands of messages every day. To have sustained success in advertising you need frequency. Frequency insures that your message gets through, and consistent radio advertising means that you will achieve this frequency with your target audience no matter where they are in the buying cycle. Those advertisers that you immediately recognize both nationally and here in the Mother Lode have made themselves recognizable by consistent advertising with a message that is repeated frequently. Radio reaches 93 percent of Americans weekly, so put that big audience to use with frequency.

Are You Hiring?
Lately, everywhere we go we see signs that say, “we’re hiring”.
With so many businesses hunting for employees, staffing has become a real problem. Businesses all over the Mother Lode have taken drastic measures like closing on certain days, or at the very least, limiting their hours. When jobs weren’t so plentiful it seemed a good strategy to put a sign in the window indicating that you have a position open. Not anymore! There are simply too many places that are in dire need of staffing. With so much competition for many of the same workers, you need to tell potential employees why they should come to work for you. What makes your opportunity better than the one down the street? A radio ad that discusses the positions you have available, as well as the benefits of working for you, is a better strategy than a sign in a window. A radio ad will bring more applicants which would give you more choices, and ultimately a better staffing situation. Your potential employees are listening. Why not talk to them on the three stations of Clarke Broadcasting? For hiring help, or more insights call us at 209-533-1450 and ask for our Sales Manager.

Business Goes where Business is invited
We’re always saddened to see a local business shut its doors. Regardless whether these stores are national chains or locally-owned, when businesses cease operations, people are affected. No one is more traumatized by the failure of the business than the people who had a dream. We feel for these folks and their employees who may be without a paycheck. It’s careless to make a sweeping generality about the failure of these businesses, but they usually share one common trait – they didn’t follow a strategic marketing plan. Too often we see business startups that don’t include advertising in their business plan. There is the temptation to rely on social media or word-of-mouth because there’s no cost. But there is. The cost is future revenue. In almost one hundred
percent of cases, your business faces competition. Consumers have choices – dozens of them, and if you aren’t out there consistently asking for their business, you won’t get it. Remember, “business goes where business is invited”. For more great marketing insights call us at 209-533-1450 and ask for our Sales Manager.

Co-Op Funds
Did you know that billions of dollars in co-op funds go unused each year?
Co-op funds are set aside by manufacturers to give their vendors incentive to advertise their product. Most of the time the amount of money the vendor receives is based on prior year sales, but that’s not a hard and fast rule. Why would a business pass up the opportunity to use co-op dollars that are provided for them? We generally hear three reasons:

1. There’s a certain amount of paperwork that goes with submissions for reimbursement.
2. The co-op usually only pays a percentage of the total dollars spent.
3. The vendor doesn’t know how much is available to them.

If you have a business relationship with a manufacturer and carry their product in your store, be sure to ask if co-op funds are available. That money is yours. Let’s use it! At Clarke Broadcasting we’re experts at handling co-op advertising situations. Call us at 209-533-1450 and ask for our Sales Manager. Get more expert advertising advice here.